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Journey of a Sikher
Recently I heard about another young Sikh boy who cut his hair to conform to the ‘norm’ of society. To some this is a big loss, in fact they look at Punjab (majority Sikh State in India) and see lack of turbans as a sign of a spiritual depression. I to have had my thoughts about this, as the world becomes smaller with social media and information is accessible to those who never had it, there is bound to be some fall out, or some ‘melting’ of cultures. Many of my peers who have kids fear this fate, that one day their kids may succumb to such pressures; we strategize how to maintain our Sikh identity in this culture shock that every young individual is bound to go through. We try to hold on to something so strong that we forget the meaning of it. Sikhism is about religious freedom, it is about spiritual exploration, and mostly it is about an individual journey. Instead of worrying about our kids, or society we need to start worrying about ourselves. In the past when it was very unpopular to be a Sikh, even to the point that you may have been killed or captured, Sikhism thrived, not because we tried to fear or coax our kids, but because the Sikhs of the past lived a lifestyle that others envied. The way to bring up your kids as Sikhs, is to show how it brings peace to your life, is to live as an example. Being a Dictator and instilling fear will only last but so long, it may even foster the environment of rebellion. But being an example, bringing Sikhi in your life, and living in its virtues will inspire others. You don’t have to be a salesman here, you don’t even have to preach, you just have to live, and improve yourself. Many times I offend people by saying I do not want to force Sikhism on my children. It is indeed my most precious wish that they are great Sikhs and can benefit from the vast teachings of this great religion, but if it is not I will not point the finger at them. I will consider it a weakness in myself, that I must have not been a good example. Far too often we are quick to blame the ‘situation’. Many of us are fake ourselves blaming our life or situations on why we cannot be better. Yet we fail to admit the fault is in ourselves, the weakness is in ourselves and because we fail to recognize the truth, we do not give ourselves a chance to improve. A discussion I once had with someone who gave me every excuse in the book not to be able to take amrit or to wake up at amrit vela, yet that same person was jumping through hoops and overcoming all obstacles to fulfill one of his hobbies. It just comes down to priorities, we are entangled in our own webs of deceit, when it comes to making more $$ we are willing to do pretty much anything legal and even a little illegal to get the job done, yet when it comes to earning character, being bold, standing for something more than just a material object, we often shy away, go to the back of the line, and have a full list of excuses already done to be excused from such responsibility. Then we wonder why Sikhism is on the decline, we need to stop looking around us, and look within us, if society is at a decline we are part of that blame, part of that burden goes to each individual person, and we need to start owning up. A Sikh can never live in fear, or worry, whatever is to happen will happen, what we can control is our reaction. Our lives are more than just a routine bunch of tasks, to gain status or comforts. We will leave behind everything material, yet we only focus on what is temporary and ways to improve ourselves we deny, we put our own spin to our daily actions without consciously thinking how will this improve me as a person, how will this bring me closer to recognizing the truth about my existence. Too busy with mundane tasks to be bothered, too busy complaining or seeing the glass half empty, our life gets wasted in complaints and desires unfulfilled, we feel empty and we try to fill ourselves with useless crap all around us, for god sake, be real with yourself, be real with your truth, stop making excuses, stop hiding in duality and own up to the responsibility that we are meant for so much more than just this, we can be an example, we can be the catalyst for change, we can be the change that we want to see in society, but first step to accept you have to work, that your ego has to be damaged, that the truth has to be faced is the most daunting one. Once you accept that you are the culprit of your own weakness then improvement/change will automatically occur. You can talk about it all you want, keeping water in your mouth, it won’t quench your thirst until you take a sip, until you start entrenching yourself in the lifestyle required. The journey has to begin with the sledge hammer of truth hitting the wall of ego and excuses. You can only inspire others, if you inspire yourself, you can only change others, if you change yourself, and you can only prove that a lifestyle is worth the trouble by living as an example. So next time you see a weakness in society or in your community, instead of getting distraught why not take one weakness within yourself and improve that, a better you will also improve the society as a whole! |
There is discontent within us, under the calm exterior an interior full of duality. Duality is the cause of many of our challenges, we feel one thing but do another, we do something but feel something else. If a human was to go through a shake down all sorts of issues would be evident.